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Facilitator: Eric Ciccone (617) 285-6261 www.DormRoomFire.com |
Newsletter Volume III |
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College Fire Safety Officer News: UMass Lowell. State House. State Fire Marshal’s Push For Backups. Student’s Reckless video. |
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UMass Lowell Spearheads New Technology |
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the Nanotech Industry. Another partnership
taking Hold with The University
is one that includes Bradford Industries. (www.Bradfordind.com). Umass Lowell will be working closely with the
newly developed fire resistant coating division of The
plan is to balance the fire protection throughout the whole campus using
a Contents: UMass Lowell 1,3 |
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new 2nd generation fire resistant
paint developed by Bradford Industries. UMass Lowell’s Rich Lemoine is the driving force behind the new
enhanced fire protection strategy.
Rich has twenty years experience as the Director of Environmental
Health & Safety. He knows first hand the importance of having
(continued, page 3) |
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The “Great Hall” in the
Massachusetts State House was the location for the 2nd
annual “Made in Massachusetts Day” This annual event show-cases
Massachusetts manufacturing Innovative Massachusetts |
companies. Bradford Industries was invited to demonstrate its
innovative fire resistant line of products that were originally developed
for military and aircraft asset protection. The State has seen the merits
of using fire resistant paint on its
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UMass Lowell campus and offered |
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Do you know why laptops computers are called notebook
computers by the manufacturers? Well it has to do with product liability.
And that risk is increasing because of the rising rate
of laptops that have ignited fires. The increased demand for lightweight power in consumer
electronics has led manufactures
to use powerful and lightweight lithium ion batteries. If there is a
faulty connection then these batteries can unload there energy in an
instant resulting in a tremendous amount of heat energy being released. Closer to campus, a women was burned by her laptop in According to an article published in (Control-Click the link below to see the USA Today
Article http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-02-12-sprinkler-backups_x.htm) Some College Fire Safety Officers are already aware of
this recall and are working toward replacing them. Tyco has a web site to
help the consumer identify faulty sprinkler heads. (go to www.sprinklerreplacement.com
to get assistance.) James Burns President of the National Association of
State Fire Marshals clarifies the Associations position on automatic
suppression systems in the wake of the USA Today article. titled;” Defective
Sprinklers Spur Fire Officials to push for Backups.” Fire
Marshals Push For Sprinkler Backups Dell laptop computer ignites in a meeting. http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/laptops/dell-laptop-explodes-in-flames-182257.php
Laptop Computer Fires Continue to
Rise “…work together to ensure balanced
fire protection so as not to rely on a single technology to protect life
and property.” James Burns, |
her NY dorm. A
similar situation happened at a The only thing that rivals an IPod on Campus for
popularity is the student laptop. Ac-cording to an Intel survey laptops
are to students today as pen and paper was to our generation. Needless to
say the recall of more than 4 million “notebook” batteries has caused
some alarm at Colleges and Universities.
“We have sent out a campus wide bulletin on the
University email system notifying individuals about the recall and directing them to the proper channels to correct the potential hazard.” Said Peter Rizzi, Campus Fire Safety It is important here to underscore that sprinklers
should be on the front lines when it comes to fire protection. However,
like any mechanical system, they can fail. And this is particularly
concerning since building codes have been relaxed as a trade off when sprinklers
are installed. These trade-offs have to assume 100% effectiveness in fire
suppression and that is simply an unattainable number. All fire protection systems should have mutuality. To
much emphasis on any one system leaves occupants vulnerable. A mutual
relationship between fire protection systems is particularly important in
student housing because the occupants behavior is considered high risk.
College Fire Safety Officers are familiar with alarm apathy due to false
alarms, students disabling fire protection systems, and impaired behavior
on campus. These risky behaviors neces-sitate the need for multiple fire
protection systems. |
Director of Northeastern University. In the mean time it is recommended that students use
the A/C adapter rather than the battery to power the notebook. It takes
the mobility away but it makes for a safer notebook computer. Dell’s site for information regarding the recall is: https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/Default.aspx
Or you can go to The Consumer Products Safety
Commission site at: http://search.cpsc.gov/query.html?col=pubweb&qt=notebook+batteries
Unfortunately the USA Today article seems to pit the
National Association of State Fire Marshals (NASFM) against sprinkler
makers and developers. It would have been more helpful to focus on the shift toward
balancing the fire protection design. A reader may be left with the
impression that NASFM is backing away from supporting sprinklers as a
result of a sprinkler recall. James Burns New York State Fire Marshal and The
President of NASFM does a tremendous job in a subsequent letter to the
President of Tyco, David Robinson, where he seeks to “reassure the public
that we have not lost confidence in automatic sprinklers. He encourages
Tyco to “work together to ensure balanced fire protection, so as not to
rely on a single technology to protect life and property.” (see Burn’s letter at: http://www.firemarshals.org/docs/Tyco_Letter.pdf
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UMass Lowell (cont’d) |
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“The
fire ignited the timbers and the sprinklers were overwhelmed...” Rich
Lemoine, Director, Environmental Health and Safety, UMass - Lowell
Fire Marshall Paul Caulderwood narrating YouTube video> Ctrl-Click link below to watch... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-AfECHZyNQ |
redundancy built into the fire protection systems. A
few years back a fire destroyed a sprinklered historical building on campus. “The fire ignited the
timbers and the sprinklers were over-whelmed.” Rich explained. “I think we have an opportunity now to better
safeguard our historical buildings and provide better protection in our
new laboratories too.” |
Before Rich decided that he wanted to use PyroTarp
liquid coatings throughout the campus for fire safety he expressed his
concern about environmental safety. He did not want to introduce a
coating that was not environmentally friendly. In 1989 UMass Lowell established the Toxic Use
Reduction Institute (TURI) on campus to research, test and promote
alternatives to toxic chemicals used in industries and communities. TURI
is the |
gold standard for environmental issues in |
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Student
Video Demonstrate Recklessness |
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The popular web site YouTube can be both entertaining and
informative. But, it can also be a window into some foolish behavior. The video of The full scale Dorm Room Fire Test held in quickly distribute the test burn video but, more on that
in a moment. Upon searching the site for “Dorm Fire” one will find some
alarming videos posted by students. In these videos one will see students
displaying a glorifying disregard for their own safety…….. and then they post
their reckless behavior on the video web site for all to see! In more than
one video the students actually ignite aerosol spray to proudly demonstrate
their flame throwing abilities inside their rooms. When you look around the
dorm room you will see that there are plenty of combustible materials just
waiting to be ignited. That includes a fire directed toward what appears to
be a synthetic carpet. |
This behavior may not shock the experienced College Safety
Officer who is well aware that students can do some crazy things. However,
the video can be a useful tool in communicating to administrators the need to
enhance fire safety on and off campus especially when the occupants are young
adults. Seeing is believing and these videos can provide you with an
unvarnished reality of what is actually happening behind those dorm room
doors. While you’re building your fire safety video library you
can add the Dorm Room Fire Test video. In contrast to the students burning things you can demonstrate
the ability of a new second generation fire resistant paint to slow flame and
smoke propagation and how it provides students more time to evacuate under
fire conditions. The link can be viewed by control clicking…(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-AfECHZyNQ ) DORM |
PyroTarp Fire Resistant Coatings And Materials. College & University Representative: Eric Ciccone Phone (617) 285-6261 Fax (781) 592-6214 |
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